About Us

Why Food Puzzles for Cats?

We are two cat behavior consultants with a mutual passion for feline foraging toys (a.k.a. food puzzles)!

We joined forces to provide clients with a one stop resource for information about feline food puzzles.

As feline behavior consultants we see the repercussions of boredom and environmental stress and we believe that having cats work for food is imperative to improve the physical and emotional well-being of indoor cats.

Dr. Mikel Delgado is a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant (CCBC) and co-owner of Feline Minds, offering cat behavior services in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, CA. Before founding Feline Minds, Mikel worked as a cat behavior specialist at the San Francisco SPCA from 2000 to 2008, and became interested in educating cat guardians about food puzzles when she was teaching the SPCA’s popular class “Entertaining Indoor Cats!”

Mikel is co-author with Jackson Galaxy of the book “Total Cat Mojo,” and she has been interviewed for Cat Fancy, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Huffington Post. Mikel has presented on cat behavior at the Bay Area Pet Fair, the Business of Saving Lives Conference, the IAABC Feline Behavior Conference, and the Exploratorium Museum of Science. She also served as a panelist at Purina's 2015 Better With Pets Summit in NYC.

Currently, Mikel is a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis. She received her PhD from UC Berkeley in 2017, where she studied animal behavior and the human-animal relationship. She has presented her research on the welfare of laboratory pigeons, human attitudes about domestic cats, and the behavior of squirrels at several academic conferences. She served on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants for four years, and as a Co-Chair of their Cat Division with Ingrid!

Mikel lives in Sacramento with her boyfriend and their two rescue cats.

She lectures at veterinary conferences (ACVC.org and AAFP) to both veterinarians and technicians, but will also offer staff and volunteer education for shelters and rescues in the Atlanta area. Most recently she has been appointed Co-Director of the Paw Project Georgia chapter, working towards ending the cruel practice of de-clawing cats.

Ingrid has been interviewed for numerous publications both in print and online. Ingrid’s home was featured in Cat Fancy magazine’s 2008 “Home Issue” showcasing all of the feline friendly accommodations that she and her husband have made to their home. This spread illustrates many of the aesthetically pleasing ways you can provide for your cats' innate basic needs while still having a home the humans can enjoy and be proud to show off.

Perhaps one of the most exciting opportunities was when her home, cats, and environmental enrichment expertise were featured on Animal Planet’s Cats101 show, specifically the episode featuring the Color-Point Short Hair.

Ingrid shares her home with husband Jake, 7 cats and a rescued Bernese Mountain Dog, Elsa.